What if someone asks them to do a US Kickstarter to see what this side of the pond's reaction is to their idea? I think many people interested in their product were put off by the exchange rate and hassel that went with it.

atpollard

February 24th, 2015 05:20 PM

I have no real insight (and those who know the truth are sworn to secrecy), but I get the impression that it isn't about funding ... something more fundamental derailed this train.

.. but that is just my guess based on a 'vibe'.

aramis

February 24th, 2015 06:08 PM

There were three big "issues" I could see without doing any digging (and ignoring the digging I have been doing for the moment)...

13-Mann doing stuff for the English market in apparent competition with Mongoose

The rules were not quite the same as MGT

Their funding choice was European - The majority of English speakers are in the US and Canada

The use of MJD - He's very good, but there is controversy over him. Plus he's affiliated with 2 "failed" editions (T20 and ACT)

It was, looking at the rules (and they're still available in draft 1.3), a very playable starter set... one which could use a second boxed set to add the missing components.

Edit to clarify: Points 4 and 5 were minor issues, but issues none the less.

The "failed" editions were not actually failures. But many who don't know the inside scoop perceive them as failures.

T20 was a commercial success, in that it turned a profit; it's an artistic success, in that it still has adherents after over 5 years out of print.

ACT was something that Martin was working on on his own, but it became very publicly known that he was working on it. His intent was to license Traveller once he had it done... but he was unable to get the license due to other market issues. Not his fault. Probably still the single most desired bit of vaporware in Traveller.

mike wightman

February 25th, 2015 02:32 AM

1. It was with the full support of MgT.
2. Rule differences were due to a. the author not reading/understanding the MgT core rules thoroughly enough, and b. an attempt to simplify.
3. This was an odd choice.
4. And he was willing to listen to feedback and re-draft.
5. The idea was to move on to the full MgT rules for this stuff.

DonM

February 25th, 2015 08:33 AM

I just realized above that Aramis' description of Liftoff also describes Star Frontiers originally.

Sigh...

robject

February 25th, 2015 08:46 AM

And re "failed" editions. Note that much of the transferrable content of ACT was moved into Mongoose Traveller. So...